Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Hey everyone! It seems that prom season is already upon us. When I stayed in a hotel last week there was actually a prom going on that night in the banquet rooms and I'm not gonna lie, I get a big grin on my face every time I see high school kids getting dressed up for the dance.

Each year for prom, I try to do a makeup look that will work for many types of dresses since I know each prom will have a flurry of colors and styles that'll be popular. Last year's tutorial was a two-toned shadow with voluminous lashes, a look that I am still in love with now. To bring something different but still appropriate for every dress, I turned to this basic smoky eye using a blackened dark green shadow as the focal point.

This look was loosely inspired by Jennifer Lawrence's red carpet smoky eye while she was promoting for The Hunger Games. Her soft smoky eye was rimmed in black all around and the edges were very blended out. Coupled with nude lips, the overall effect is sultry yet elegant.

To adapt the look for my eye shape, I took the liberty of choosing a dark green instead of the copper-black shadow Jennifer used and I also added my favorite signature winged liner.

Here you can see that the base shape of this smoky eye is a blended out oval. The cat-eye effect is from the liner, not the shadow. This oval technique is actually the easiest to adapt to any eye shape for a smoky eye.

Please tell me you girls will take lots of goofy pics like this for your prom too. ;p

As promised, I wanted to show you a photo I found the other day from my own prom! (LOL!) Kids, this was before we had digital cameras so forgive the scanned 35mm quality. I guess the dust and scratches make it more authentic and make me seem really, really old, right? Haha.

I remember feeling quite proud of my dress because I had sewn it from scratch. It was a strapless A-line dress with extra tulle sewn into the under-dress lining to give it more volume. The bodice even had boning! The over-dress had a split at the side and buttoned at the waist. I'm not sure I could make it again now, but I was definitely proud of the fact that nobody else would show up in the same dress as me. :)

Can you believe how much younger I looked then than I do now? I can see that my face matured a lot after high school and my eyebrows could be shaped better. LOL!

For those of you in high school I hope you have a fun, safe time at prom and take lots of pics!

To everyone else, lets give those prom-goers some good advice in the comments. I mentioned in my video that my best tip is to bring blotting sheets, lipstick, and lash glue in your purse. What's your best tip?

56 comments:

I'm such a huge fan of your's, Jen, and I loved that you modeled this tutorial after the flawless Jennifer Lawrence. And how cute were you at your prom! Huge props to you for making your own fabulous dress.

You look sooooo pretty! I love this look, I wish i knew how to use makeup for my prom 4 years ago... and btw i love your high school prom pic you look sooo cute!! More pics please! P.S. if you are 26 now, this pic was around 2004? I thought they had digital cameras back then? xx

This is one of my favorite looks! I wear a blended out smoky eye as part of my daily routine and this tutorial is great if I want to incorporate color. Advice I would give to prom-goers.. try to set your makeup with a setting spray! My blush had worn off by the night's end and my smoky eyeliner was kinda smudged. So not the most attractive girl at the end of the night but it sure was fun!

wow you look so amazin Jenn :) I can't wait to try this...and you looked so pretty on your prom, you do look older now, but that's only because you had a baby face, and now your face looks more contoured...everytime i look back at older photos I can't believe how different i lookhope you're having a great dayXO stephi

I can't believe you made your own dress! That is so cool! I love this look especially since it's for monolids. I have always had trouble with eye makeup but I'm subscribed to you on youtube and I love your videos!

i like Jennifer's smokey eyes & you did a good job recreating her look. My tip for prom goers is: check yourself in the mirror RIGHT before the pro photos are taken. It's good to catch a wardrobe malfunction before it's eternalized on camera

hi jen! love love love this look! anyway i was just wondering if you had any recommendations for a good eyeshadow blending bursh? i dont think you mentioned one in your fav eyeshadow brushes vid/blogpost (although i could be wrong!)

hi jen,i'm korean but i live in germany and it's really difficult to get false lashes and getting the right length, they are always too long. so i was wondering if you could tell me the length of your lashes? and by the way, i love your tutoials!!!

Hi Jen. Lately I became a big fan of your makeup tutorials. Congratulations on your amazing job!I know in this tutorial you've used loaded, virgin, and buck from your own urban decay palette, and I want to request you to make another tutorial using the psychedelic sister, X, and if possible including SWF which I know is not on your palette. If you could make it happen, I would truly appreciate. : )Thank you in advance. Miki.

Hey Jen, I love your tutorials! Do you have any tips for Asian girls who always get their super short bottom-lash mascara onto their face by the end of the day? I end up having a raccoon look even though I use primer, help! :)